A fluidized bed is formed when a solid particulate is placed under appropriate conditions to cause the solid mixture to behave as a fluid. One manner of achieving a fluidized bed is to introduce a pressurized fluid through the particulate medium. Often this results in the medium having many properties and characteristics of normal fluids, such as the ability to free-flow under gravity, or to be pumped using fluid type technologies.
In many cases, a nozzle is used to introduce air into a fluidized bed boiler to aid and/or promote combustion. The environment of the bed boiler may be hostile. For example, temperatures of a fluidized bed boiler may exceed 1700 degrees Fahrenheit for a period of time. In addition, the solid mixture in the bed boiler may abrade or otherwise wear the nozzles.
Nozzles are often embedded, at least partially, within a refractory material to insulate and protect the combustion zones. The refractory material may make replacing the nozzles difficult.
Thus, there is a need for an improved nozzle design to increase the service life and reduce costs associated with the nozzles.